Motor vehicles commonly employ a hand-operated shifting mechanism for remotely controlling a device such as a manually shiftable gearbox or transmission. Usually a shift lever or handle is mounted in the passenger compartment so that it can be moved along two mutually perpendicular axes of motion. The lever is moved along one axis or plane to a predetermined position for selecting a pair of transmission gears and then laterally moved along a perpendicular axis or plane either toward one side or the other of the original path of motion to shift into one or the other of the pair of selected gears and to place the transmission in a desired gear ratio.
Gear shift remote control devices of the prior art commonly employ mechanical rods, electrical means and in some instances, hydraulic connections, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,013 which issued to Roger F. LaPointe, on Mar. 16, 1976.